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Christina Thai
Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
19 February 2016
The Start of A New Era
On January 21st, 2013, the first African American President of the United States,
Barack Obama, delivered his second Inaugural Address in Washington D.C. in front of
thousands of people. In his speech, Obama emphasizes on repetition, pathos, and
polysyndeton in order to gain trust from the citizens of the United States and to persuade
them that he will try his best as the forty-fourth President to achieve the goals he has set
for the nation in his term.
President Barack Obama first starts off his speech trying to be familiar with his
audience. He tries to use words that unites the people and himself as whole. One major
appeal he uses throughout his speech is repetition. For example in paragraph six through
eight, he expresses how everyone has come and banded together, determined
together, discoveredtogether, resolved in the past in order to be where the United
States is now (Philips par. 6-8). Another example is in paragraphs thirteen through
twenty, President Obama reuses the words, We understandwe, the peoplewe do
notwe will in the beginning of each paragraph to display how the citizens know
what they want and it is possible to achieve the goals they desire as long as they are side
by side with one another (par. 13-20). Obama wants to show how far this country has
developed because the citizens are together. He repeats words in order to make an impact
on the audience, to make an impression that he knows the history of what this country is
based on, and desires to continue as a family and a whole. Obama promises that will not
make the decisions by himself but instead consider different points of views and be openminded to all.

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The main appeal President Obama demonstrates in his speech is pathos. From
start to finish, he is trying to earn trust and draw out emotions of his people. For example,
in paragraph eleven, President Obama expresses the emotion of how much America has
gone through in the years that have passed and that this generation of Americans has
been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience Americas
possibilities are limitless (par.11). He wants the citizens to feel empowered and be
grateful that they are in this wonderful country that they call home. Obama is trying to
portray the past first and then later on to present his own visions on what he wants to do
to achieve the goals he had in mind. In this paragraph, he is presenting the findings of the
problems with in this society, such as the unfairness of wealth in the lower, middle, and
upper classes, wages, poverty, independence, renewable energy resources, and the rights
of the people. Another example of pathos used in the speech is from paragraph twentytwo to twenty-seven, President Obama is calling for action from the young to the old to
make things equal. He illustrates an emotion of confidence, positivity, and duty toward
the audience to make them feel obligated to work together with him to change. He wants
to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of
happiness real for every American: (par.23). He is trying to create an image of himself as
someone who is able to complete all these tasks that need to be done in order for equality
for all, young or old.
The last major appeal President Obama demonstrates in his inaugural address is
polysyndeton. Throughout his whole speech, he tries to use polysyndeton to compare the
dark to light; the bad to the good; the right to the wrong and to also make things seem
they are for the future. For example, in paragraph twenty-four, near the end of the speech

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where he is calling for action, President Obama is calling out all Americans to act and
work to make a new society to live in. He shows that the people can be remembered as
those, who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the
timeless spirit once.. (par.24). He is stating that it is possible to achieve the goals he has
in mind but it can only happen if everyone believes and works together with those visions
at hand. Another example is in the beginning of his speech, in paragraph two, President
Obama argues that, what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the
tenets of our faith or the origins of our names, (par.2). He is announcing that peoples
physical appearance, names, nor faiths can stop the unity this country has. The citizens of
the United States can operate with these differences, which is why this country is at its
current place in history. He is swearing an oath that he will be the voice of the people of
the United States no matter the differences that he has.
Overall, the second Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama utilized the
appeals of repetition, pathos, and polysyndeton. These three appeals were exercised
successfully from start to end and achieved the goal of delivering his oath to the people of
the United States that he will try his best to be a good president in his second term.
Barack Obama is determined to push down the obstacles that stand in the way of the
country from moving on to becoming a place where all are equal.

Work Cited

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Philips, Macon. "President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address." The White House. The
White House, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.